Arizona Baseball ends the week strong, prepares for Arizona State

TUCSON, AZ – After winning three of their last four games, the Arizona Baseball team (10-5) prepares for showdown against Arizona State (13-4).

The season is picking up for the Arizona Baseball team, and after a small little hiccup with losses to Central Michigan and Rhode Island, the Wildcats have seemingly got back on track after a solid week.

Fresh off of a 15-11 loss to Rhode Island, the Wildcats needed to rebound and in a big way, especially with Texas and Houston looming.

Arizona Wildcats

The first challenge would be against the Longhorns, especially as Texas came in with plenty of talent and hype!

Freshman pitcher Dawon Netz would get the start in this one, pitching in just one inning before Vince Vannelle would come on in relief.

The bigger story would perhaps be Arizona’s offense, as it exploded for eight runs in the first four innings to jump out to the 8-2 lead over Texas.

Arizona would run into some trouble in the seventh inning, especially as Texas would begin to climb back into this one, before the Wildcats would eventually shut the door on the Longhorns to ultimately secure the 8-6 win!

Matthew Dyer and Branden Boissiere would lead the team offensively, going a combined 3-8 from the plate with seven RBI’s! Both would also hit home runs in the second and fourth innings respectively.

Returning to action on Friday and looking to carry their momentum from their win over Texas, the Wildcats would turn to Garrett Irvin in game one, especially as the left-hander would have a rather dominant day, pitching six-and-two-thirds, holding Houston to just one run (unearned) on five hits.

Arizona would jump out to the early 2-0 lead in the second, before adding on to their lead later in the game, when Dyer would homer in the fifth inning to make it 4-1.

The Wildcats would add three more runs in this one, before securing the convincing, 7-1 win over the Cougars.

Looking to replicate their success in game two, the Wildcats would turn to Quinn Flanagan against Houston, hoping for a strong performance.

Overall, Quinn would pitch well, throwing five-and-one-third innings surrendering three runs on six hits. However, it wouldn’t be enough as the Wildcats would ultimately fall by a 3-1 final.

Unlike Arizona, it would be the offense that came up short in this one! Despite jumping out to the 1-0 lead, the offense would stagnate, getting shut out in the rest of this one.

Arizona’s lone run would come in the first inning when Dyer would single to right field, scoring Donta Williams.

Unable to hold Houston, the Cougars would plate three runs in the fourth inning, ultimately securing the win. Quinn would get the loss, falling to 1-2 on the season.

Needing the series win, the Wildcats would get a big response in Sunday’s finale, especially with freshman Chandler Murphy on the mound.

From the start it would be back and forth. Even with Arizona coming out quickly, as they plated two runs in the first, Houston would come right back, scoring two runs in the third to tie it.

From there, Arizona would seemingly trades runs with the Cougars, entering the seventh inning tied 4-4. That’s when the offense would come alive!

Boissiere would get things going in the inning when he would single to center field to score Dyer, before the Cats would tack on four more runs on two hit-by-pitches and two walks to give Arizona the 9-4 lead!

Arizona would extend their lead in the eighth inning when Tyler Casagrande would single to center, scoring Boissiere to make it 10-5, Cats!

Houston would score one more run, but the Wildcats would shut the door on the Cougars, earning the 10-6 victory!

With the win, the Wildcats improve to 10-5 on the season and will return to action on Tuesday when they travel up to Tempe to take on rival ASU to kick-off the Pac-12 Conference slate of games.

After that, it’ll be on to Oregon State in Tucson this weekend!

At Zona Zealots, we’re hoping our Cats can continue to find their consistency and start the Pac-12 season strong! As always, Bear Down, Arizona!